The Wind's Up-Time to Run

Move now? Right now!?

Was it really appropriate to make a move while everyone else was so busy?

The question flashed through her mind, but she had always been decisive.

She had agreed to follow Chu Qing's orders in everything on this mission.

Since he'd told her to strike, then strike she would!

As the thought crossed her mind, her long sword was already in her hand. With a single turn, its keen edge fell from the sky.

Amid the crash of shattering tiles, Tang Xi, who had been busy at work, abruptly looked up. The sword's edge was already upon him.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the woman beneath him as she stared in terror, then rolled and switched places with her.

Wu Qianhuan's gaze darkened.

She didn't know who the woman was, but she clearly had no cultivation.

Faced with Wu Qianhuan's sword, she showed nothing but terror...

Wu Qianhuan wasn't a true assassin, after all. And the lessons she'd been taught since childhood would never allow her to kill a defenseless woman who couldn't fight back... a woman who wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing.

So in that instant, she turned her sword and swept with its flat.

The woman was knocked off the bed and onto the floor. She didn't even make a sound before passing out.

But that cost Wu Qianhuan the initiative... and at the same time, she realized something else that made her heart sink.

The "Night Emperor" who had just told her to attack hadn't joined her!

Had the bastard sold her out?

At that thought, Tang Xi's palm shot out.

As it struck, she caught the faint scent of blood. Seeing the crimson on Tang Xi's palm, understanding dawned.

Blood Transformation Divine Palm!

This demonic art was said to come from the Blood Transformation Divine Skill. Once, a master of the demonic path had wielded it to roam the martial world unchecked.

With this skill, he could refine blood thralls and make them do his bidding.

But after that fiend died, the skill vanished from the martial world.

Later, someone discovered a fragment of the skill and adapted it into the Blood Transformation Divine Palm, but the secret method for refining blood thralls had been lost.

Even so, the palm technique remained vicious and deadly. The blood poison it contained could make life worse than death with a single touch. If someone mastered this demonic art, one palm would be enough to drain a person's blood and leave them a dried corpse.

Wu Qianhuan didn't dare take that vicious palm head-on. With a flash of movement, she retreated from the bed.

Tang Xi, still naked, leaped up and pursued her while he had the advantage.

It was no wonder Tang Xi didn't care about his dignity. With death at the door, everything else was trivial. His first priority was killing this assassin who had appeared out of nowhere.

Wu Qianhuan retreated again and again. When she had nowhere left to go, she gritted her teeth. Her sword momentum had gathered over those few steps, and she was about to strike... when a crash rang out and a figure burst through the window.

A sharp glint flashed, swift as lightning.

Fast!

Unimaginably fast!

The attack was beyond anything Tang Xi had expected. Even if he'd been fully prepared, he might not have been able to stop such a swift sword.

There was no time to turn. He could only shift slightly to protect his vitals.

The blade pierced straight through him with a hiss, entering through his left chest and emerging from his back.

Chu Qing had landed his strike and wasn't about to let Tang Xi live. The sword already buried in his body suddenly twisted, ready to carve...

But right then, Tang Xi grabbed the blade and used its momentum to fall back, trying to pull the sword out of his body.

A glimmer of purple flashed in Chu Qing's eyes. He turned the blade, and with a wet chop, several fingers fell to the floor. Yet Tang Xi, who should have been cut in half, managed to escape by a hair, left with only a deep gash across the left side of his chest.

At the same time, Wu Qianhuan didn't let up. She unleashed the sword momentum she'd been building.

One after another, sword blossoms left streaks of blood across Tang Xi's body.

An ordinary person would have been as good as dead from wounds like that.

But Tang Xi cultivated the Hate Heaven Demonic Skill and wielded the Blood Transformation Divine Palm. Even in this state, he still wasn't dead.

He pivoted, his figure flickering in and out, and abruptly broke free of the fight.

Chu Qing had anticipated this and had already prepared for the windows and doors, his sword intent poised to strike.

But he hadn't expected Tang Xi to understand that there was no escaping today. Instead of making for the window, he went to the bookshelf, reached over and fiddled with the lampstand. The bookshelf rattled, then slowly opened to reveal a doorway.

The moment a gap appeared, Tang Xi impatiently squeezed inside.

But after crossing the threshold and taking just two steps, his body stiffened.

A sword tip emerged from his throat. Tang Xi gritted his teeth and reached for the blade, but before he could exert any force, Wu Qianhuan cut off his arm.

With that hand no longer restraining him, Chu Qing's sword flashed.

Tang Xi's head rolled from his neck.

It rolled across the floor with a few soft thumps, its eyes still open in death.

"Damn, he's hard to kill."

Only after seeing Tang Xi die did Chu Qing flick the blood from his sword and prepare to sheath it. But when he looked at the weapon in his hand, he grimaced.

The Blood Transformation Divine Palm had corroded the blade. It was now badly pitted.

It probably wouldn't last many more uses.

But there was no time to worry about that. He grabbed Wu Qianhuan with one hand, drew Tang Xi's head back with Internal Energy in the other, and sprang away.

The chase and beheading might have sounded complicated, but it had all happened in a matter of moments.

They had barely landed when a click sounded behind them. Only then did the bookshelf finally close.

"Time to run."

Chu Qing spoke, and Wu Qianhuan followed without hesitation.

She wanted to search that secret room, but now was clearly not the time.

What was inside? How large was it? Were there traps? Had people been stationed there? Everything was unknown.

And the commotion they'd just made would inevitably bring people from Luoyu Hall to investigate.

If they were trapped in the secret room, they might never get out.

They absolutely couldn't venture into such peril. Even if they wanted to investigate, they first had to leave Luoyu Hall and tell Wu Ganqi. Then they could send in the Heavenly Dance Guard, surround Luoyu Hall, and bring everything under control before exploring—not drag Chu Qing into a gamble right now.

Seeing how she'd handled things, Chu Qing felt relieved.

The little girl who had once run around bare-bottomed with her hair in pigtails had truly grown up.

Tang Xi had avoided the window and the door and charged into the secret room instead. Most likely, he knew he was doomed and wanted to lure them inside and trap them there. Once the rest of Luoyu Hall arrived, they could avenge him.

At the very least, he couldn't let the two of them leave Luoyu Hall alive.

Wu Qianhuan hadn't let the immediate gain blind her. That alone was worthy of respect.

The two of them didn't linger in the room at all. They leaped up and climbed back onto the roof through the hole Wu Qianhuan had made.

As soon as they landed, someone shouted furiously:

"Who's there?"

"Assassins!!"

It was Luoyu Hall, after all. Their response was quick.

Without a second thought, Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan used their lightness skills and fled.

The ordinary Luoyu Hall men couldn't stop them.

But just as they were about to leap out of Luoyu Hall's courtyard, a voice rang out:

"What petty wretches dare trespass in my Luoyu Hall?

"Stay right there!!"

A palm-shaped shadow shot toward them. Its immense force made the curtain of rain tilt beneath its power.